To Everything There is a Season
by PhenyxArises
Summary: ..And a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to kill, a time to heal; A time to weep, a time to laugh; A time to love, a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. It's the beginning of the end and the times- they are changing.
1. Seek and Find

**Morocco 2001**

Gazing out the cockpit window of the Cirrus SR20, Jarod exhaled a sigh of relief when he observed Miss Parker exiting the aircraft. He'd feared for several tense moments that he'd have to leave the safety of the jet he'd commandeered and return to save her from certain death but Miss Parker, thus far, had found a way to survive, and once again, she'd proved it by abandoning the jet before it exploded.

Taxiing along an adjacent runway, Jarod sent up a silent wish and hoped that Parker's survival instincts wouldn't fail her in the future, that the inner sense would guide her and perhaps she'd eventually make the correct choices. He couldn't stay. He'd tried everything to help her, to make her see the truth, hell, he had all but confessed his undying love to her and even after the revelations on the Isle, all that she had learned and witnessed, she'd still chosen Mr. Parker, she'd chosen the Centre.

**Scotland **

**The next afternoon**

"I was told that any injured evacuees from the storm in Carthis would have been brought to this hospital."  
"Yes, Mister?" The young woman behind the desk asked.  
"Doctor." Jarod corrected her. "Doctor Carnegie."  
"Oh, you're a doctor? Nurse James will be so relieved. Please, come with me."  
"There were two critical patients." She said, then entered a room. "In here."  
Jarod cautiously followed. He chose the curtain on the left and bursting with anticipation, opened it.  
In apparent bemusement, Jarod gazed down at the bare mattress. "Where is the patient?"

"She died, I'm afraid."  
"Oh God." He sank to the mattress.  
"Doctor Carnegie?"  
"Where is her body?" He whispered.  
"Down in the morgue, of course."  
"I have to go to her." Jarod stood, rushed towards the door. He had to move her body, give her a proper burial. And he had to hurry before the Centre hounds came sniffing after him.

"Dr. Carnegie, I assure you that the mortuary is fully staffed. It's our _live_ patients that need your help." The young woman admonished.  
Jarod was already leaving the room when he heard sobbing and the words "Forgive me, Lord. Forgive me. Forgive me, Lord. Please forgive me." Jarod suddenly stopped and whirled around.  
"The other patient- How did she die?" He asked the young clerk as he walked towards the other curtain in the room.  
"One of the rescue boats was overcrowded and the poor woman fell off. It was the curse of the island, I tell you."  
"And this patient." Jarod grabbed the chart, flipped through it. "She was... shot." He took a deep breath and slowly opened the curtain.  
"Mom." He whispered tearfully.

"Dr. Carnegie? Aren't you going to examine her?"  
"I don't have to. It's obvious that she has to be moved now that she's stable."  
"It is?"  
"Yes. There's a potential outbreak." He lied. "A deadly virus. The island curse." He didn't know how else to get it through the clerk's mind, so 'When in Rome'...  
"That's why I'm here. It's why the C.D.C. sent me."  
"Oh my! An outbreak?" The clerk exclaimed.  
"Oh no, it's only dangerous to her. " Jarod assured the woman, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You see, it, uh, it weakens the immune system of those it infects... it's weakened her immune system." Jarod realized by the flabbergasted expression on the clerk's face that he needed to forgo the chit chat and get his mother the hell out of Scotland. "I need transport here A.S.A.P. and I'll radio ahead to the C.D.C. for further instructions."  
"I'll get transport now." The clerk raced out of the room.

Jarod returned his gaze to his mother's face.  
"Mom. It's alright now. It's me. It's Jarod."  
"Jarod. Forgive me, son."  
"Shh, rest now."

"Oh, Jarod. That woman..the woman in the chapel. I saw the two of you together on the shore. Catherine Parker's daughter, Jarod -"  
"Relax mom, please. Miss Parker told me everything, she said you were panicked. You were frightened because you'd been shot."  
"No, son. It's her. The Parkers are evil, Jarod. She was going to kill me, I just know it. I know it!"  
"Mom, if her intention had been to harm you, she would have done so."  
"She is the Parker curse, she carries it in her blood. The Parkers must be defeated Jarod, all of them."  
"Just rest, mom." Jarod whispered. "I won't let her hurt you, I won't let anyone hurt you." He vowed. Jarod would discuss the so called 'curse' later, when they were safe.

TBC


	2. Recover

"How did you find me?" Margaret asked her son.  
Jarod was rocked back on his heels in a low crouch feeding small pieces of kindling into the fireplace.  
"A man named Ethan..." Jarod replied. "You don't know him, mom, but he's.." Jarod sighed, fed the remaining logs into the fire and stood. He returned to his mother's bedside and gently added another blanket to her bed.  
"Ethan is my half brother."  
Margaret gasped. "But Jarod, how can that be?"

"A man named Raines used dad's DNA to inseminate Catherine Parker."  
"Oh, dear God." His mother exclaimed softly. "Those people are evil Jarod, so very evil, and Catherine's daughter is the most evil of them all."  
"Mom, sometimes things can appear to be a certain way, but in actuality, it's not that way at all. Catherine Parker was killed immediately following Ethan's birth. Catherine's daughter first believed she'd witness her mother's suicide in an elevator. She was very young at the time, but that moment had a lasting impact..a very negative impact. I won't tell you that she's done nothing wrong but I can tell you that she's had a very good reason for everything she's done."

"And you think_ that _makes it all right, that it exonerates her from the fate she must suffer, the fate she deserves."  
"Exactly what fate do you believe she must suffer, mom? Death? Is that you want for her? She's been suffering since she was a little girl."  
"She had a gun aimed at you, Jarod. I saw it from the boat."  
"Mr. Parker taught her to distrust me. They trained Miss Parker to hate me... the way they trained Kyle to do the things he did. If you're going to blame her, then you must blame Kyle as well and you must blame me for all the lives I've taken, for believing all their lies and not escaping sooner. Mom, it's what the Centre does when they get their hooks into their victims."

Margaret fell silent afterwards.  
"Are you in any pain?" Jarod asked softly.  
"No. The morphine drip has helped considerably." With the physical pain at least. "Thank you, son."  
"Try to rest."  
"I'll try."

Jarod entered the smaller bedroom inside the hotel and stared at the cell phone.  
He needed a friend. A familiar voice. And she deserved another chance. He had to give her another chance and perhaps tell her that he'd found his mother.

"What."

Jarod heard the tone of her voice. It tore at his heart to hear her so devastated and all because of that sorry excuse for a father, Mr. Parker.

They both had so much they wanted to say. There was so much they couldn't say, not yet.

He listened with a tightness in his chest as her voice faltered with un-shed tears.  
Was there a chance that Mr. Parker had jumped for the right reason? Doubtful. Highly doubtful. Jarod thought the man a heartless bastard incapable of feeling, incapable of love or doing anything for the right reason. Mr. Parker couldn't differentiate right from wrong. All his daughter had ever wanted was her father's love and it didn't hurt any less to learn that he was not her real father.

"I hope you find your mother." She said softly, genuinely.

Oh, but I have. I have! I've found her. He wanted to tell her.

"And what about us?"  
"You run, I chase..."

No. He couldn't tell her, and stopped contemplating doing so upon hearing those words. The game continued, only it wasn't game at all. Games implied fun and this wasn't fun anymore, hadn't ever been fun as a matter of fact.

"Maybe that is the Parker curse." He attempted to lighten the mood. Fail.

The Parker curse, indeed.

"Hell of a life we have here, Jarod."

Isn't that the damn truth? There was so much despair in her voice, in the entire conversation.

"Only this time, the first one to find the answers...lives."

No. It was not a game. If Lyle found those answers first, Parker would be killed.

When the call ended, Jarod returned to his mother. Her vitals were stable and physically, she was faring well but his main concern was her emotional status. They'd have to move come morning, regardless of her health.

Traveling to the states was risky but staying in Scotland could prove deadly with warrior monks and curses and the like, not to mention the Centre cleaners who'd be returning to scour the countryside. And Miss Parker would most likely be tagging along to sniff for clues.

The next morning, Jarod and his mother kept the conversation light as they ate a breakfast consisting of fruits, bagels, cream, fresh milk and freshly squeezed orange juice. She gazed at him cautiously, her eyes hooded with uncertainty. She was wary of him, wary of the prophecies that she refused to relay to him.

When he reached across the table to offer her the butter, she jerked back in fear.

"Mom, please, tell me why you're frightened." Jarod whispered. "Why are you afraid of me?" It seemed everyone he loved feared him to some extent. Was he really the monster the Centre had tried to turn him in to? First Parker, then the clone, then Ethan, and now his mother.

"I'm not afraid of you, son. I'm afraid for you, afraid of what you might become when the prophecies are realized, afraid of what will happen. Afraid for us all."  
Jarod gave a heavy sigh of frustration, and stood to clear the eating containers. "This about the scrolls." He said disbelievingly. "They aren't real, they never were and they can not foretell my future."  
"But you're wrong. They've already foretold much. There is no time to talk now, son, but when he arrive...Jarod, where are we going?"  
"Somewhere safe." He smiled.

But it wasn't as safe as he believed.

Jarod was unaware that Miss Parker would be waiting for him when he and his mother arrived at their next destination.


	3. Apprehension

**Thanks for the reviews! " The eagerness of a listener quickens the tongue of a narrator. "** (Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte) **And because I had so many great reviews (the readers), demonstrated such eagerness, this narrator's fingers have typed quicker.** Please, enjoy. Next chapter should get heated. (that means sex)

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Jarod and his mother said very little as they flew over the Atlantic. She was obviously paranoid, just a hair delusional and still very afraid of him or what he would become so much that even Jarod was feeling the painful discomfort brought on by her still unfounded fears and the way she cautiously watched him from the corner of her eye, afraid to turn her back on him. He wondered exactly what she was expecting to happen. Did she think he'd transform before her eyes? Like Superman? Or the Incredible Hulk? Jarod couldn't help but be curious.

_I don't feel any different or look any different._

Those damn scrolls, he thought angrily, like the Centre, were destroying the lives of the people he loved. When the hell would it ever end? When he could stop running? When could he lie down and close his eyes without nightmares, without the fear of opening his eyes to find himself staring down the barrel of Parker's 9 mm? Jarod just wanted to stretch out somewhere and sleep. Really sleep. Close his mind completely and relax.

But relaxing would surely be the death of him, and his mother as well, if he wasn't careful.

The trip to the old abandoned lodge was two hours from the airport. The rain pelted down heavily on the windshields so heavily it nearly obscured the road ahead and the headlights couldn't quit penetrate the sheet of fog that had fallen over the dark night. When Jarod and his mother finally arrived, and all in one piece, at the lodge, his only thought was securing the vehicle and getting his mother inside and warm again. Shock was still a possibility, and with her altered mental status, the chance of her going into shock was increased tenfold. She'd need pain meds, another dose of antibiotics and possibly a heavily sedated cup of tea. Sleep would only do her good.

With the car hidden away, Jarod held his coat over his mother's head as she exited the vehicle, Jarod hoisted a large back pack filled with groceries on his back, a large duffel over his shoulder and a large garbage bag in his hand. Margaret carried two small plastic grocery bags. The pair then slowly but surely walked up the paved path and into the rear entrance where the large, industrial sized kitchen was housed. Jarod closed the heavy door behind him and felt his way in the dark to place the bags on the large stainless steel counter. "Just stand here until I find the main breaker." He walked a little further into the blackness. "It should be here in the utility closet." He felt for the main switch and threw it.

Suddenly, a blood curdling scream shattered the silence. Margaret's scream.

The Pretender whipped around angrily, pulling the loaded gun as he stepped from the closet.

Parker stood in the entrance leading from the kitchen to the large dining hall, the gun in her hand was aimed directly at Jarod's mother.

"Oh my God." Parker gasped, lowering her gun slowly. "You're"

"She's my mother." Jarod growled at her as he chambered a round in his pistol. Parker's head swung around, her gaze met his. "And you have pointed that goddamned gun at her for the very last time." He was furious, so absolutely furious. "Drop the gun, Miss Parker, or so help me"  
"I am. I am. I didn't know it was..." She tried to explain herself as she placed the gun on the floor, very slowly.  
"Bullshit, Miss Parker. You followed us here and now you think you're going to take us in. Don't you?" Jarod grabbed up her gun, stuck it in the waist band of his black jeans. "Well, guess again."  
"No, no, Jarod. You can put that away. It's not like"

"I hope you find your mother." He repeated the words she spoken so many hours ago. "You knew I would, you probably knew that I had when you said those words to me. "Turn around. Put your hands against the wall." He ordered as he grabbed a roll of rope from the utility closet.  
"What? No. No. You don't understand. I'm not here"

"Oh, I understand alright but you don't. Turn around."  
"No. Are you out of your"

It all happened so fast after that. A blur.

Jarod placed the gun on the counter and then advanced so quickly that Parker didn't have the time to blink, let alone run. She was spun so that her back was to him and slammed into the wall. Jarod held her there and tied her hands together and then her arms. And even then, he didn't relax.

"Where are the others?" He growled in her ear.  
"It's just me."  
Jarod pulled her gun from the waist of his pants, pressed it to her head.  
"Where- Are- The- Others?" He ground out. "Then pressed her further into the wall, eliciting a painful moan and gasp from Parker.  
"Not here. It's just me."  
"Why?"  
"They bugged my phone, they know we spoke and they believe that I'm disloyal to the Centre. They ordered a hit. I didn't know what to do so I came here. Ben told me years ago that he brought my mother here on their first date and no one at the Centre knows about it so..." Jarod didn't soften his grip but he pulled back, gave her some room to breath and feeling moisture on his black shirt, he examined it closely and realized it wasn't rain water, but blood. Not his blood. That's when he saw the blood in Parker's hair.  
"They hurt you?"  
"Bullet grazed my head and another grazed my knee. It's good thing I have a lot of practice at running, only this last time, it was me running away."  
"And not you chasing after me. How does it feel, Miss Parker? Not so fun to be on the other side of the chase, is it?" Jarod said angrily. "Welcome to the club." He hissed into her ear.

"You're hurting me." Parker said softly.  
"Well that's too bad. Where are they now?"  
"Please, let me go. You're hurting me." She said louder.  
"I don't care!" He slammed her against the wall again to drive the point home. "Where are they!"  
"I don't know. I escaped Blue Cove after the T board and took a commercial flight using an alias and doctored papers. I've been hiding here in the dark for nearly fifteen hours. I...don't know what else to do. I'm as good as dead so you might as well go ahead and kill me. I don't care anymore. I can't live like this."

"Son, let her go."  
"No, can't trust her."  
"Jarod"

"Damn it, mother, I said no!"  
Margaret flinched away.  
It had already happened. Had happened long before this night. Margaret was sure. The darkness was already inside him, the prophecy would come true.

Jarod pulled Parker towards a tall straight back chair and secured her tightly before shoving the chair towards the counter.  
"Mom, have a seat."  
Margaret moved towards Parker, thought the woman might be an ally in the end instead of a foe and at the very least she could offer the young woman some comfort seeing as she was looking very terrified but Jarod's voice stopped Margaret.  
"At the end of the counter. Miss Parker has been known to get out of tight spots. If she escapes, she could put us in danger and.."  
"How could I when they want me dead?"

"Why Miss Parker, the same way your brother worms his way back into the Centre. You bring me and my mother in and you'll be welcomed with open arms as Raines' right hand puppet instead of that thumb-less bastard brother of yours. Who knows, they might even give you the chairmanship." Jarod came right up to her face. "Listen to me, Miss Parker, I am NEVER GOING back to the Centre again."  
Parker shuddered in fear, and tears sprang to her eyes. She was unsure exactly what she'd done to deserve this treatment but then again...  
She knew exactly which deeds had brought about this behavior in Jarod and the latest of those deeds involved the woman standing with scarlet hair just a few feet away.  
"I'm sorry...for everything, Jarod and I'm sorry to you too." Parker said to Margaret without looking at the woman. Parker lowered her eyes and her head and felt the humility suffocating her.

"Sorry doesn't cut it and we don't believe you anyway so save it for someone" Jarod berated.  
"I believe you." Margaret said. "And I accept your apology. I heard recently that you've had your reasons for everything that you've done." Margaret gazed at her son. "That you were trained just as Kyle was trained, just as Jarod was trained, all of you were trained for different purposes but you were all captive and had no choice, so perhaps you have nothing to apologize for."  
"Mom, I warned you about"  
"She's been hiding here afraid and alone and in the dark and cold to escape those animals and now that they want to kill her, well, Jarod, doesn't that prove that she's been a prisoner of the Centre all this time? All her life? If she'd tried to leave or do anything to defy them, they would have killed her. Have you eaten anything dear?"  
"The closet in the dining hall. I've been there...I was..too afraid to leave."  
"When did you last eat or drink anything?"  
"Tea. I had some herbal tea...uh...that was...it was..." Parker lowered her head more, tried to secretly wipe away a tear, keeping it hidden behind a veil of hair. "What day is it?"  
"You haven't eaten or drank anything in over four days?" Jarod asked Parker, alarm in his voice. "Not since the sip of tea at Ocee's?" Jarod went over to sink, grabbed a glass from the cupboard and washed it.  
"No, I haven't...there wasn't time and..my father. Well, I was upset and then the T-board lasted for thirty hours.."  
"Here. Drink." He brought the glass to her lips.  
"Untie my hands."  
"Drink the damn water, Parker. Now."  
"I'll fix some omelets, Margaret said, pulling a carton of eggs from the large grocery sack still on the counter. "And put away these groceries."

"No, mom, sit down. I'll do everything. Here. You sit here and hold the glass for Miss Parker."  
"That would be my pleasure." Margaret said, sitting beside the younger woman and giving back a gentle rub.

Dammit. Jarod thought. What the hell am I going to do? Why did she have to show up?

After a fortifying meal of cheese and vegetable omelets, polenta, and hash-browns in which Parker was urged to eat every bite, and to Jarod's shock, actually ate every bite, he led her and his mother to their rooms. His mother would be across the hall from Parker and Jarod himself would pull a mattress into the wide hallway, all bedroom doors would remain open. He wanted to keep an eye on both woman, couldn't let his mother out of his sight for the fear she'd disappear again, that he'd wake up to find it all had been but a dream. Parker had to remain under watch because she posed a danger, a hell of a risk to both his and his mother's safety. Parker was left to her own devices, hands tied to the headboard, feet tied at the ankles, but he only left her alone after rummaging through her knapsack to check for weapons...weapons she couldn't reach because she was mercilessly restrained. He didn't care that the ropes were too tight. Any looser and she'd find a way out. He couldn't take that chance, couldn't offer the woman any more trust.

He heard Parker's soft sobs coming from her bedroom and knew she was trying not to cry and still, he felt angered by the sound.

_How many times did I cry as a child and adult? Did she ever care? Did anyone?_

She was in for a lesson, an eye opening lesson and at the end of it, hopefully, she'd be a better person for it, would not only know but demonstrate openly just whose side she was on and where her loyalties lie.

It proved easy for Jarod to stay awake and on guard. Parker's nightmares never ended, she cried out for her father, the father who'd jumped with the scrolls, and even her mother once. The last few days had been hell for her. And the hell was only just beginning.

It was going to be a long night.


	4. Offensive Maneuver

Thanks for all the reviews!

Things are really heating up! Please, enjoy!

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Parker finally fell into a deeper phase of sleep and didn't wake for six hours and that's just what Jarod had suspected would happen. While she snoozed peacefully, Jarod had time to wrap his mind around the latest events, specifically Parker's unexpected appearance. He felt that in some ways he deserved this surprise, after all, he had sent her to Ben, had intentionally attempted to throw her off his trail and set her onto a new path. Jarod sighed. He should have known that Parker would have asked to know everything about her mother and Ben, the kind man that he was, would have been pleased to talk about Catherine and their first romantic get away to the old hunter s lodge in the rugged mountainous area many miles from Delaware, miles from Catherine s husband and that strange organization that had seemed even then to control Catherine's life.

Jarod knew that after a night of rest, Parker would feel much better and back to her old self again and he wasn't sure if that was good news or bad news. He needed her calm and strong but not snippy and sarcastic. More than anything, he needed his friend but she had made it clear that they were on the divided sides of enemy lines and it was just the way the damn story would continue to go unless he convinced her otherwise. Jarod prayed he could reach her, reach that little girl he loved before it was too late for them both...and his mother. He couldn t trust Parker yet, perhaps with himself, yes, but not now when his mother was involved. He d searched too many years, had too many close calls, had lost her too many times. He would not lose his mother again.

Jarod thought that perhaps he and Parker could coexist as equals seeing that Parker had arrived first at the lodge and it was his own fault that she knew about this place. It could be sort of a neutral ground for them and they would eventually work together.

That idea was quickly scrubbed. He couldn t take that chance with so much at stake. Even at that chapel in Scotland, she d pulled her gun and tried to take charge and had caused him to miss his mother. He grew angry again at just the thought.

Parker made the rules and Jarod had to live by them and those rules dictated that one of them would be dominant and the other would be in cuffs. He sure as hell wasn t going to be submissive to her!

When Parker's eyes flickered open against the beams of light flickering in through the edges of the blinds, she saw the figure standing near her and started but found that she was fully restrained to the bed. She stared in silence and struggled to make her eyes focus. It was then Jarod turned on the light and advanced.  
"Don't come near me!"

But Jarod continued his approach.  
"Don't!" She yelled. "Are you out of your mind?" Parker hissed, struggling with the ropes, like a wild, wounded and dangerous animal trapped, she was venomous and ready to attack.  
"If I am out of my mind, I have you and the Centre to thank, Miss Parker. It's difficult for anyone to remain sane when one is constantly running for one's life and freedom. Wouldn't you agree?"  
"Don't you dare mock me just because you have tied me up! I hadn't slept and wasn't myself and now you're here exploiting my vulnerabilities and that, Mr. Altruism, makes you no different from the Centre!"  
"And no different than you." He gave back angrily.  
"I never took you back there!"  
"It wasn't for the lack of trying."  
"I could have killed you, could have captured you, could have used my inner sense, I..."  
"You certainly tried, didn't you?" He hissed.  
"If I had tried, you bastard, you'd be back in the sim lab right now, you arrogant son of a bitch!"  
"Some advice, Miss Parker. You are still tied up. For future reference, you might want to try being a bit nicer to the person who isn't."  
She threw her head back on the pillows, completely exasperated.  
"I suggest breathing."  
"Excuse me?"  
"Breathe. Just breathe slowly. Deep, cleansing breaths."  
"And why the fuck should I do that?"

"_**Tsk, tsk, tsk**_, Miss Parker, _mmmm-mmm_ such language, you must be in a greater state of trepidation than even I had suspected." He shook his head. "It helps to breathe through the fear and panic, and the pain in your chest that you're feeling due to the side effects of the stress." He explained.  
"I'm not afraid."  
"Yes you are afraid. You are very afraid and you should be. You should be completely terrified here with me...you are terrified...here, and all alone with me, a pretender who can become anyone, anything... and oh, you are in such a, uh, quite vulnerable position. Face it, you have every justification for being as terrified as you are right now. You are at my complete mercy, Miss Parker. You're tied up and too sore to run from sitting in a cramped closet for fifteen hours and from dodging bullets and running for hours. Even if you were free to run, you couldn't run because you're muscles need time to recover from the ordeal. You have no gun, nothing to use to defend yourself against me and I am much bigger, and a great deal stronger than you." He said, leaning over the bed, over her body.

She took a shuddering breath as he moved closer, his lips just at her ear. "If I was Lyle, you, Miss Parker, would be tortured, raped, killed and...you'd be my breakfast, dinner and..." Jarod licked his lips, intentionally audible and watched her stiffen in fear and shudder once more. "my delicious dessert. If I were Raines, you'd be an experiment and you'd suffer endlessly and it would be the most indescribable pain...and so severe that you'd want to die to end it.

If I was Alex, you'd be dead already. You would have been dead the minute I saw you. We both know that, and so perhaps you should feel extremely thankful, Miss Parker, that I'm _**myself**_ right now."

"You think that scares me, that your big manly talk scares me, that you can control me with fear! Why even bring Lyle into this? Is that what you're planning to do to me? You're such a big, brave man trying to frighten and control someone who is ..." She stopped there.  
"Weaker?" He asked.  
"Doesn't that make you feel like such a superhero, Jarod? You used my weakness to subdue me and tied me up to do only God knows what to me and here I thought you defended the weak."  
"I'm defending my mother." He replied. "The bullet didn't just graze her arm and psychologically..." Jarod stopped talking. He had to focus. "Since you didn't deny or even question it, then it must be true. Alex is alive, isn't he?"  
"You looked through my things!"  
"I found the Z-3 file, Centre assassinations, contract killings. The hit man is code named "Bedlam." Jarod said with a sigh. "Alex is Bedlam. Isn't he?"  
"Yes. They found him near death just fifty miles from where he jumped after he fired the shot. They nursed him back to health and somehow reigned him in."  
"And they didn't tell you about it."  
"They didn't tell me about his first death defying stunt either."  
"Lyle." Jarod sighed again. "Lyle worked with Alex."  
"Yeah. It takes a madman to know one." Parker replied.

Jarod left her then and entered the bathroom, drew some water and returned with a large pitcher and bowl. He placed the items on the floor beside the room and disappeared only to return with a red box.

"What are you doing?"  
"I'm doing what you wouldn't allow me to do last night and this time I am not taking "no" for an answer. Understand something, Miss Parker, I would have done this last night but you were much too upset and I was afraid that you would upset my mother even more and I was afraid you would do more damage to yourself than has already been done and right now, the last thing we need is to go into town for more medical supplies."  
"Don't touch me. Don't! I need a shower and I'll take care of the rest."  
He sat beside her on the bed, leaned forward, brushed her face with his fingers.  
"I said don't! Don't touch me." She had her eyes squeezed shut and her head turned away.  
"Listen to me." He said, bringing her head back so he could look into her eyes. Parker obeyed and gazed into his piercing brown eyes. "I need you...want you to trust me."  
"I need you...want you to UNTIE me." She ground out.  
"Lie still.." He placed his hands on her shoulders.  
"Don't." She ground out. "Please!"  
"I'm not going to hurt you." He said. "You know that. Is that what you're worried about? Or do you really think I'd take advantage of you when you're hurt? I won't take advantage or your vulnerabilities. You can trust me."

"Get your hands off me."  
"I can't do that if I'm going to help you." He whispered and gently pushed her back onto the bed. "Now turn your head just a..." Jarod adjusted her head slightly so he could get a better look at the head injury. "No visible subcutaneous tissue." He said and gently dabbed at the wound with the warm cloth. "The bullet only grazed the epidermis. You were very lucky. Alex isn't known for missing his target. When he makes his mind up to kill, he kills without a second thought."  
"Yeah, I guess my father...Mr. Parker was proof of that."  
"Alex's score card is very long, Miss Parker. He wants you dead and we're going to have to be very careful or he will be adding you to that list."  
"We?" She asked. "Owww, damn it." She hissed when he began cleaning the injury.  
"I'm sorry. I know, I know, it hurts." He whispered. "Just breathe."  
"You don't have to do this."  
"Yes, I did." He said, pulling back and gazing into her blue eyes. "There was dirt in the wound and it could have become infected."  
"Okay, your sadistic games are over now. Untie me, Jarod. Please."  
"No. Not until I'm done."

He needed to define lines and show her that he was the dominant one and that she could either trust him and they could work together or she would be treated like his prisoner. It was a drastic change, a very significant altering of what she d been trained to believe were standard operations and status quo. He wasn t going back to the Centre and he would not let his mother be further traumatized or captured.

Jarod needed to control what happened, he needed to take back the control from Parker, he needed it for himself and for his mother. If he didn t pick up the reins and take charge Parker would. He couldn t have that. If Parker left, she could make just one phone call and have the sweepers sent in and the contract on her life rescinded and all would be forgiven. Once again, she would take her rightful place at the Centre. Jarod couldn't risk it, couldn't trust her until she could show that she trusted him. It was a two way street after all, and he didn't need her making sudden detours.

He moved to her ankles, untied them and cleaned the self inflicted rope burn before moving up. And the pain and sore muscles were not the deep ache she was concerned about. There was something else. The feelings he roused with each brush of a finger, with each touch was having an unusual affect on her.

_Dear God, Parker, don't let this asshole get to you like this._ _You're just still reeling from that night at Ocee's when he almost kissed you and you were upset then too, and you've been alone for so long, and now you're on the run and were almost killed and you're helpless at this man's every whim and you haven't had sex in a couple of years and..._

"Just breathe, Miss Parker." Jarod whispered. She tried to, but the breaths came with much difficulty as one hand held her foot steady and his warm, soft fingers brushed her instep. Heaven! Oh heaven. Surely he didn't mean to do this to her. Did he?

When Jarod finished tending her wounds, he helped to her feet.  
She glanced up in uncertainty.  
"What are you doing?"  
"Lunch will be ready soon and my mother might need a hand in the kitchen."  
"Oh."  
"Oh? What did you think would happen next?" He asked and then those dark brown eyes narrowed, first in anger and then in hurt. She d wounded him.

Trust. They were going to have to work harder before he could give her what it seemed she could not give him. Just a little trust. Just a little.

"I would never hurt you like that. I'm not Lyle." His words were so soft she could barely hear them.

And Parker wasn t afraid that he would hurt her, she was afraid that she d surrender to him, afraid of betraying herself, her father and her training, afraid her body would betray her mind.

_Dear God, I can t let that happen. Not with Jarod. Never with Jarod._

They moved to the dining hall then, where Margaret waited with their meal and afterwards, Jarod discussed their game plan. They'd stay for a week and then move again. By then, he hoped to be in touch with Major Charles, Emily and Jarret. He couldn't do this alone, he needed an emotional support group because Parker alone was going to be more than a handful.


	5. Change of Plans

"You've hurt him." Margaret explained in hushed tones as Parker helped the older woman pack their meager supplies into several large black garbage bags. "He wants to trust you, I can see him trying but.."

"This doesn't defy explanation, Mrs. Charles." Parker said forlornly, deflated. "I've done nothing to deserve his kindness and everything to deserve this hatred."

"If you want his trust again, you're going to have to earn it."

"He's never going to trust me again, Margaret, and I don't blame him."

"Please dear, call me Maggie, and yes, he will trust you again, if you want him to. It's" Margaret fell silent suddenly when she heard the approaching footfalls.

"Hey, mom. You two about ready to leave?"

"We're all done here."

The flight was uneventful, the arrival much less so. The private jet was on the air field no more three minutes before Charles, Emily and Jarret boarded and then commenced the tearful reunion which was followed by a very tense moments during which Jarod explained Miss Parker's presence and the reasons she was cuffed to the copilot's seat. It was during that explanation that the his phone rang. "Yes." He was a bit chuffed at having been interrupted.

"Well, well, well. Long time, no see." Came the menacing sing-song taunting.

Jarod's eyes closed in frustration; he'd know that voice anywhere.

"Alex." Jarod snarled. "What do you want?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see how you were faring in these turbulent times."

"I should ask you the same."

"I always find a way to survive when those I once depended on fail me."

"I tried to-"

"Not enough, Mr. Altruism, not to save me, eh, but I digress. I want to know what will happen when I kill someone that you will try hard enough for, someone important to your world. Eeny-Meeny-Miny-Mo, Jarod. And if your loved one hollers, I still won't them go. Who will it be? When will I strike? The ending will the same. You will try, Ace, and you will still fail." Those words were followed by a dial tone.

"Son, everything alright?"

"I don't think so." Jarod glared at the phone in his hand.

"Well, who was that?"

"A mad man."

Parker's head turned abruptly and her eyes locked with Jarod. "His name is Alex."

"What did he want?" The Major inquired.

Jarod's fists clenched, unclenched.

"Tell them, Jarod." Parker insisted.

"To play games, to kill but I won't know when or where he'll strike or which of you he will target."

"Them?" Parker asked. "He said that?"

"It doesn't make sense, not even for Alex."

"What did he say?"

"He said: "eeny-meeny-miny-mo-"

"Then he knows you've found your family." Parker exclaimed.

"What do you mean?"

"Eeny-meeny", Jarod, is game that children play to select who will first take a turn in game, it's a selection." Parker explained. "Alex knows that you found them!"

Realization touched Jarod's features.

"Turbulent times." Jarod whispered. Turbulence." Jarod was in Parker's face in two long strides and gripping her shoulders.

"What are you-"

He clamped a hand over her mouth and then addressed his family.

"Go to the cockpit!"

"But, son-"

"Go!"

Jarod then pressed his lips to her ear. "He knows we're on a plane." Parker's body tensed. "Were you unconscious any time during the T-board?"

Parker shrugged and then nodded.

Without any further words, Jarod commenced a more thorough search of her body. He found multiple bruises and lacerations, grimaced at each one. They had beaten her, shocked her, had hurt her far more badly than she'd allowed him to know.

Jarod inspected every wound, and then sifted through her hair, even as she winced and cried out.

When the search yielded nothing, Parker removed her top with no qualms, allowed him to examine her back. She became a bit hesitant when he asked her to face him and did so with her arms crossed over her breasts.

He stepped back, gave her a reproachful glare.

"There's nothing there." She whispered. "I can see perfectly-"

"You don't know what to look for." He whispered. "I can have Emily or mom-""No." She shook her head. It was humiliating enough to be seen by Jarod, nude and covered in ugly bruises, lacerations and abrasions.

Parker reluctantly dropped her arms to her sides, was finally adjusting to the violation when Jarod asked to remove the pants half an hour later. She stared dumbfounded at him for a moment.

"Do it." He commanded. "Or I'll do it for you."

Parker relented but only after she was given a towel so that she could wrap the lower half of her body. She then stretched out across a row of seating in a prostrate position and was mortified by the simple thought that he may want her to flip over onto her back so that he could conduct a search of her front side or even more horrific, conduct a body cavity search. He was not going to take no for answer and she was already in a vulnerable position and nude. To her relief, he found what he'd been seeking just below the curve of her bottom, on the upper left thigh.

"I found it. We don't have to whisper. It can't be a bug, it's too deep and the sound wouldn't transmit. It's a GPS chip."

"What are you waiting for? Remove it."

"I have morphine but-"

"For God's sake, Jarod, just do it!"

"It's going to hurt." He warned as he retrieved and prepared his medical instruments.

And it did. She screamed out several times and then buried her face in her hands and cried.

"What are we going to do now?" She gasped out the question as he removed the gloves.

"We're going to switch flights..but this chip isn't."

Jarod planted the device into the bottom of a seat, gathered his family and the group exited the jet.


	6. Mending Fences

Alex was nothing if not cunning, and was observing when Jarod and family plus Parker filed off the jet, sans GPS chip.

And he'd been very much looking forward to discovering which loved one Jarod had chosen to save when the jet plummeted into the ocean. He'd wanted to see who woud live and who Jarod would allow to die. Now Alex was going to have to make the life or death decision for Jarod.

The madman ducked behind one of the aircraft's tires, moved swiftly, watched, waited and then pounced. He grabbed Emily's wrist and snaked an arm around her. Jarod's sister screamed, struggled.

"Emily!" Margaret cried.

"Alex, let her go!" Jarod yelled.

"uh-uh-uh, I wouldn't if I were you." The madman grinned. He yanked his knife from its sheath and moved forward abruptly but was suddenly thrown off balance by Parker. She dove between Emily and Alex, pushed Emily away. Jarod watched in relief and in horror as his sister rolled away, rolled from the growing pool of blood and stumbled to her feet.

"No." Jarod gasped when he saw the source of the crimson flow, the bloody white blouse, the knife handle. Before Jarod could reach them, Alex pulled the knife from Parker's chest and then, his maniacal laughter burst up from within the darkness that was his soul.

Parker gasped, gasped for air and her lungs hissed, made a horrible sucking, high pitched hiss and blood bubbled, gurgled up from the wound.

"God!" Jarod wailed. "No!" He didn't think, didn't have the time or inclination for thinking. He ran, soared forward, and toppled Alex. The madman reached for the knife but Jarod didn't care. The Pretender grasped Alex's head and with every ounce Jarod owned, he thrust Alex's head into the asphalt. There was a sickening crack of a skull upon the first impact, blood and brain matter was visible during the second impact. Alex was dead before his head met the asphalt for a third and final time.

Dead. And she'd be too if Jarod didn't hurry.

"The jet, dad, now!" Jarod yelled ahead to his father as he rushed to Parker's side. Major Charles and the others boarded the plane and prepared to take off.

"Look at me. Miss Parker, look at me." Jarod gazed into her eyes, hid the grimace as foamy blood continued to gurgle from the chest wound. Terrified, he was so terrified of losing her. He tried to focus on her eyes. "Stay with me." But he couldn't help but noticed the cyanosis, the blue of her lips and the ghostly white pallor of her face. Jarod forced his eyes to focus, he kept his eyes on her face, her beautiful face even as he tore loose a section of plastic from the relatively clean garbage bag. "Stay with me, now, just stay with me." He soothed.

Parker's eyelids fluttered closed after another gasping hiss.

"No!" He demanded. He wouldn't even consider her death or the thought of her dying now. "Look at me." He yelled as he ripped her shirt open and applied the section of plastic bag over the wound. He then used her torn shirt to hold the seal in place.

Parker inhaled, she inhaled the sweet breath of life.

"Much better." He smiled tearfully. "You're going to be fine." Jarod gathered Parker into his arms, began making the trek to the jet. "I promise you."

Jarret rushed to assist Jarod in carrying Parker up the steps.

"Oh, Jarod." Margaret was wringing her hands when they entered the jet. "How bad she is?"

"The knife severed her lung."

"Oh, no." Emily cried. "If you need to administer CPR, I can do the breathing and you can compress-"

Jarod shook his head as he very carefully deposited Parker onto a make shift bed of blankets and clothes.

"CPR will **not** inflate a severed lung." Jarod gasped. "I've sealed the wound and that will buy us time but she's going into shock." He worked quickly to treat for shock.

"Oh, but...but...but she..she saved my life, she.." Emily sobbed.

"And I'm saving hers. I'm saving hers. She's going to be fine." Jarod assured. "Dad" Jarod yelled towards the cockpit. "There's a monastery where we will find refuge...it's about two hundred miles north of here." Jarod shouted out the coordinates and continued treating Parker's injuries to the best of his abilities under the dire circumstances that had befallen them.


	7. Triggers

**Sorry, I've been on sabbatical for many months, visited the homeland, traveled for work, and then needed some time alone to mend my poor hurting heart these last three weeks. The world is such a horrible place but I feel stronger now and offer you the next chapter of To Everything There Is A Season.**

"Son." Brock Charles addressed Jarod when he entered the make shift CCU. "Any change?"

"No, dad." Jarod said sadly. "She dreams but she never wakes and I'm afraid"

Jarod's explanation was interrupted when Parker whimpered and then cried out, she cried Thomas' name.

"Thomas?" Brock inquired.

"A friend of mine, and someone she loved dearly, someone the Centre took from her. Another casualty of the Centre."

"Take a break for a while, I'll sit here."

"No, I can't leave her side."

"You've been at her side for nearly four weeks, Jarod."

"And I will stay until the end. I owe her that, dad. She is dying because of me, it should be me in this bed, not her, and I won't leave her alone. No one should ever die alone."

"Maybe she isn't dying at all, Jarod."

"But she is, dad, and soon, we'll have to call this what it is: a coma. I treated for shock on the jet, her vitals were stable, but she must have went into shock again, and so severely that during transport from the jet to the monastery, cardiac arrest occurred without my knowledge."

"You never left her side, Jarod. Son, it's possible-"

"I'll have to discontinue IV feedings and opt for a enternal, an og tube perhaps. I think she'd prefer a G tube to an NG tube." Jarod's eyes filled with tears. "There is also the matter of an indwelling catheter. Nurse Richards will of course continue changing Parker and the bedding. And I will continue with the stretches. Her muscles shouldn't become rigid, she'd be angry at me if I allowed that to happen." Jarod moved to Parker's feet, and keeping the covers on her to protect her modesty, he began stretching her legs, bending each one at the knee.

During this stretching exercise and at the bleakest moment when Jarod had thought all hope lost, a blood curdling scream filled the room. Parker was very much awake and extremely traumatized.

"Thomas! Where is Thomas?"

Jarod studied her for some time.

"A dream." She choked hoarsely. "A dream. It was a dream."

"A very long one." Jarod agreed.

"My throat."

"Hurts, I imagine." Jarod prepared her a cup with ice water and Brock Charles slipped out of the room to the give the "kids" some privacy.

Her hands didn't quite function properly, despite the daily physical exercises. "I'll hold the cup. Please, drink now."

"Hurts." She grimaced upon swallowing and the complained.

"Your throat is going to be sore for some time."

"Everything. Hurts."

"What happened? Where am I? Why are you here?"

She asked, and then she slept again, but to Jarod's relief, awoke seven hours later.

"Hi." He whispered.

"Jarod. How did you get in-" Parker searched the room. "Where am I?"

"You escaped the Centre, fled to the hunter's lodge."

"Yes."

"My mother and I fled there as well."

"Yes, I remember."

"I was unkind, I know that, and I'm sorry."

"But how-"

"You saved Emily's life by placing yourself between her and Alex's knife."

"Oh god, that's right."

"I did my best, but there is going to be some scarring, when you're out of here, perhaps a plastic surgeon-"

"Is the scarring the least of my worries?"

Jarod nodded. "And mine. Now that you're finally awake." He observed her, recorded her vitals, blood pressure, pulse and respirations.

"Finally?"

"You have been unconscious for more than three weeks."

"In bed for three weeks."

She became suddenly self aware and very self-conscious. She was uncomfortable and seemed to shut down on him.

"Hey." He said softly. "What is it?"

"I've been bedridden and without a bath for"

"You're clean. I assure you."

"You? Jarod, you didn't bathe me-"

"No, no, Nurse Richards is also a nun. She bathes you, changes your bedding, and although I have been allowed to stay, believe me when I say that she is very strict about a woman's modesty. I was forced to turn my back, open up the windows and peer out to study the garden and give her an account of each blossoming bloom. I hope that eases your mind."

"You saw nothing?"

"I saw nothing below the waist, and I swear, impure thoughts were the last thing on my mind when I was repairing your lung. I had to undress you to operate, if there had been any other"

Parker coloured somewhat at that. "I...I understand."

"If it will further ease your mind, I've been a gynecologist and obstetrician and clinical detachment is my expertise."  
"Ease my mind? I'm hardly modest, Jarod."

"But just now, you turned at least ten shades of red, so you must be somewhat modest, Miss Parker. Also, I've witnessed your modesty once before, in Scotland. Are you going to tell me that I'm wrong when I vividly recall you ensuring the robe was in place? I'm a Pretender, I know you were uncomfortable wearing nothing but a robe in my presence."

"I was freezing."

"You lie very well." He smirked. "I'll allow it this one time."

"Please do." Parker said. "Can I have more water?"

"Of course."

She eyed him warily, couldn't imagine the feel of his eyes on her naked body, and was thankful that she had no recall of the event.

"What now?" She asked while he added more ice to her cup.

"Alex is on a rampage. He will have to be swiftly dealt with as soon as possible." Jarod returned to her sick bed, once again held the cup, observed as she indulge in the cool water, overindulged, swallowed too much, and coughed. "Miss-" He began when she finally settled onto the pillows and then dispensed with formalities. "Parker, I- I"

He wanted to confess his heart, his every desire, now before the chance was lost, before some tragedy might strike.

"Jarod? Are you alright?"

"Don't you ever scare me like that again." He whispered tearfully, and hoped those wouldn't come as any shock, the last thing he wanted to do was startle her and especially before a full recovery was made. He would his tongue, say nothing of his feelings. Jarod had his say, conveyed concern enough and it would suffice.

"Right." She purred. "Because you wouldn't want to lose your most worthy adversary." She said to drive that dreariness of pain and fear from his eyes, and it worked as well as giving a spoiled child the object of its tantrum or as firing a shot to disperse congregating birds. With her choice of words, with that smile on her face, Parker had swept away the gray clouds from over his head and alas! there was the sun again.

Jarod smiled, and he nodded and those tears ceased.

He was in love with her, Parker realized then. Very much in love, and more than she could comprehend. She'd never comprehend the reasons, the whys.

How can he love me?

How?

Love transcends even death, he'd once said, so why can't it transcend her faults, failures, all of those flaws and the times she'd hurt and disappointed him?

Indeed, his love did transcend all things.

He was afraid to love her, to give, to confess and she had for once wanted to show kindness and meekness, to perhaps be as modest as he seemed to think her, and change the topic of conversation, to give him an easy escape from the thing he had been running from. Not so much her, but his feelings for her. Had those feelings never died? Could that be possible?

Love transcends all things, even death.

The answer therein lies.

Two weeks passed and she became the handful Jarod had always thought her to be.

"I want to bathe myself-"

"You aren't strong enough, Parker." Jarod chided.

Most times, he could convert her to his way of thinking but she'd become temperamental as of late, she rarely slept and was traumatized with night terrors when she did. Parker refused to speak of the terrors, but would give herself, as well as her dark repressed secret, away soon enough.

"I don't want that woman touching me again!" She screamed fiercely.

"Parker-" Jarod leaned in, touched her shoulders to calm her.

"Don't touch me!" She wailed loudly. "Please, don't touch me." She cried and slapped away his hands.

Brock, Maggie, Emily and Jarrett all came running into the room to see what the commotion was.

"It's alright, it's alright." Jarod assured them and then, he took a seat beside Parker.

"Has Nurse Richards...has she done something to hurt you? Something inappropriate? Tell me and I will amend this right away. I will make her pay and I will dismiss the woman into the custody of the police."

"No." She replied. "I prefer to bathe myself. I'm no invalid."

"You aren't strong enough to stand on your own, and I fear there is something else that you aren't telling me here. What is it?"

"I won't regain my strength if I'm confined to this bed. That's all."

"You will. If you continue the exercises, we can have you up with some assistance from either myself or my father in a week or two. You're troubled, Parker. Do you think I don't see that? Do you believe you can hide from me? Look, I don't know if this is a symptom, if it means your condition is worsening or if you're suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the stabbing or...or something...something else. The nightmares have worsened, you don't sleep and without sleep, you can't expect to recover. Now, it's important that I know what has happened, what has you so upset...I'm talking to you now as your doctor and your friend."

"I thought it was a dream."

"What?"

She cupped her own face, as if trying to stifle herself physically, her fingers splayed along her jaw in painful rumination. She couldn't say it. Not to Jarod. Not to anyone.

"Parker, please, for the sake of your own health, for your physical and mental health, please tell me what's wrong, and I will do what I can to make it right. I promise you that I will try to help."

"I can't" She said tearfully.

"You can. This burden is too much for you bear on your own. Release it, release it's power over you, give it to me. We'll share this pain, and we'll get through whatever it is together."

"Leave me."

"Did Mr. Parker hurt you? Did he molest you? Rape you?"

"I don't know."

"Someone did. Am I right?"

Parker nodded. Those terrible words would not come, she would say the horrible thing."

"Who hurt you?"

"I don't know. There were hands. Hands. Hands on me." She shivered fiercely. "All over my body."

When she didn't continued, Jarod nudged her on gently.

"Whose hands?"

"I-I don- don't know. I don't know."

"What were the hands doing?"

"Hurting." She cried. "Me." She stifled a sob. "My clothes. The hands took my clothes away a..a..and...and then...and then.."

Jarod in all his fury and pulsating anger, choked back tears to be strong for her and stayed gentle and sweet in his nature and tone.

"Where were you?"

"The Centre. The infirmary, I think. I couldn't find daddy. I- I was lost and"

"Go on."

"It was dark. I dropped the ribbon."

"Ribbon?"

"Red. A red ribbon. It was tied to the gold piano trophy..that...I won for my rendition of Bach's.. Bach's"

"Minuet in G?" Jarod knew the one, recalled it fondly and vividly. Fondly until now. He felt his throat tighten. She had been so young, so young and so sweet, so innocent. "Then you had just left my room, you had just showed me the trophy. Think, Parker, think back, just close your eyes and go back to that day and tell me what you see."

She obeyed, closed her tear-filled eyes. "I left you, took the service elevator. I got turned around. Foot steps. There are foot steps. I ran. I thought it was Raines, so I ran, turned the corner. Face! There was a face and then" Parker gasped suddenly. "I don't remember. I don't remember." She sobbed into her hands.

"Okay, okay." He leaned forward to hold her, but pulled back in fear and then allowed his heart to lead. He leaned forward, wrapped her in a cocoon of warmth and tenderness. "It's okay now. I won't let anyone ever hurt you again."

With her head on his strong shoulder, a strong shoulder that now shared her burden, she fell asleep. 


	8. The Cursed

"Jarod, it's three in the morning, my god, son, why aren't you asleep?" Brock, stifling a yawn, asked Jarod.

"I need answers."

"About?"

"About Miss Parker, and I only have a few minutes, while the nurse is assisting Parker."

"If the answers are in regard to Miss Parker, why not ask her instead of... son, who are you emailing?"

"A friend. I've asked Miss Parker", Jarod whispered, "but she can't remember. I...I can't talk to you about this...I vowed to her that she could trust me."

"Then I'll leave you alone. Goodnight, son." Brock said, patting Jarod firmly on the shoulder before resigning to his bedroom.

Jarod would soon regret the decision to send his father away. He had no idea how horrific the news was going to be, or how severely Parker would react.

"Oh, my god." He hissed at the screen hours later, and then stood, and put his fist through the wall.

He had to tell her. But how does even begin?

Not easily. It was never easy with Parker.

"You can take these cuffs off now, Doctor Jekyll." Parker growled when he entered the room. Jarod frowned but was glad to at least finally know why she treated him with such hatred. It was no wonder. He smiled at the nurse in passing and watched as she exited the room.

"We need to talk but before we do, I'm going to uncuff you, Parker. I want you to know that I didn't want to restrain you this way or use force to keep you here. It's for your own safety that you are here. It's the only way I know how to protect you. And despite what you might think of me right now..."

"Could you move this along, geniusboy?" She growled.

"..I have always cared about you." He continued. "It took almost losing you to realize that you were important to my world- you remember? When Alex shot Mr. Parker in the head? I know now that you, in some ways, are my world. I want you to promise me that you won't run."

"I'm barely able to stand, monkeyboy!"

"Close enough to a promise." He smirked, and then nodded and moved towards her. But that plan hit a wall. Jarod stopped when she recoiled from him, sank into the pillows as if to escape. "I thought you wanted the cuffs off."

"I do!" She screamed at him in anger.

Again, he moved towards her, and again, she recoiled.

"You know." He said. "Don't you?"

"I know what?" She growled.

"It's why you had that 9mm glued to your hand all those years, in the Keys, everywhere. It's why you treat me with hostility. I thought they trained you to hate me, but it's not hate. It's not even anger, it's not the job, it's not even your father...either of your fathers. It's me. You know what happened."

"What the hell are you talking about, Franken-boy?"

"And that- those names. You are terrified, like a threatened dog- one of those little ankle nibblers that attack when the back is turned, you lash out and then you run away."

"Me? Run from you? Terrified?" She asked. "Of you?" She chuckled. "I can't believe you're at this again. I never liked doctors, genius-boy! Incidentally, I don't particularly like people that act like doctors either."

"Hmm, I'm armed not with a syringe and scalpel, Parker, I'm not wearing a white lab coat, I don't even have the stethoscope on me at the moment. I have only a key to unlock the cuffs and free you. I just realized...hmm, if I release you, you will run. Maybe not now, but in a few hours."

"What? No. I won't run. I swear to you."

He moved again. Again, she recoiled.

"You don't want me within ten feet of you, Parker." Not that he blamed her. "How am I supposed to unlock the cuffs?"

"Just do it!" She screamed and then stared angrily while he set her free.

"We need to talk." He said, and then moved to the opposite side of the room.

"About?"

"You." He replied. "The flashbacks you've been having; I've discovered some..." Jarod grimaced. "things."

"Such as?"

"There's more...more that you haven't told me. Isn't there? Your mind probably tried to block out the face, but after all this time, I'm guessing you've seen a face... and it changed...it's changed everything."

"I don't understand."

"I think you do. First, I want you to know that I haven't done anything to you. You can know know I would have never done something like that unless it had been orchestrated by the Centre somehow, influenced by their drugs or under hypnosis. You've known that all this time. But it is why you went away, it's why you didn't write, it's why you didn't even say goodbye to me. You believe I raped you. I know your mind tells you that, and the nightmares, the flashbacks...they all tell you that I am the enemy, that I left my room the day you came to show me the trophy, your mind believes that I followed you, shut off the lights, that I... that I attacked you, dragged you away, restrained you, removed your clothes." He gasped, nearly sobbed.

"But I didn't do any of things. I swear to God I didn't. I won't ask you to trust me. I know you can not, and I know why can not. I will urge you instead to trust your heart. I searched everything, each annex and archive. The one time Sydney was away has been accounted for. They were my stopping heart during Sydney's absence and it's the only time I'm not under Centre surveillance. The things you remember.. they happened when you were young. Ten. I have the DSAs to prove that I returned to work immediately after you left my room. It wasn't me. I know...I know that now you're wondering who..if it wasn't me then who."

"Please", she whispered raggedly, "please tell me it wasn't Daddy..not, not my...not Mr. Parker."

"It wasn't. For what it's worth, I truly believe he loved you, loved you as his daughter and tried to protect you the best way he could. As far as I can tell, he had no knowledge of what was done to you. It..." Jarod's jaw clenched, unclenched. "It was.."

"Raines." Parker interrupted. "OH, god! Wasn't it?"

"He had intended to recruit Annie, your step-sister, into one of his sinister schemes which involved much sexual experimentation and simulations, but as you know.."

"She was killed. And it was probably for the best that she was. He..did he..he wasn't..ever inside me?"

"I'm not certain that you are ready to hear the details...it's not going to be.."

"Damn you! Tell me or I'll kill you!"

"You want to know if...if he penetrated you vaginally...with his penis?"

"Yes. Or any other orifice!" She barked and then sobbed. "Tell me!"

"No. You were not penetrated in any way with his penis, but, Miss Parker.."

"Then..at least there is that consolation."

"Con...consolation? Miss Parker, he raped you just the same...there was penetration of the vagina as well as...well, there was thorough exploration. He used tools, objects, his mouth to penetrate you vaginally and orally, as well as an.."

"You and Sydney." She interrupted angrily. "I find one glimmer of hope in the most horrible event of my entire life and you have to butcher it."

"I don't want you to delude yourself. He tasted you, damaged you internally..your injuries required sutures, he took your virginity..every possible virginity.. with his gynecological tools, and with his fingers and hands, and mouth and he took pleasure in it, he abused you for hours, and then he hypnotized you, brainwashed you to make you believe that I was the assailant."

"He wasn't inside me, his penis was not inside of me. I don't even want to think of it! God!" She cried and buried her face in her hands. "I'm going to vomit!" She sobbed.

Jarod fetched her a cool cloth and some anti-naseau meds and finally continued. He offered comfort but she recoiled again and clearly, didn't want him near her.

"There's something else...something you need to know..of great importance."

"What?"

"That wasn't the only occurrence."

"What do you mean?"

"When you were shot saving Mr. Parker, Raines...he violated you again... again, there was no penetration with his penis, but his fingers were inside you..and.. well, he took something more..he..Miss Parker, he harvested your eggs."

"Oh my God." She spat and then muttered the horrific memory: "Shrinks with scalpels."

"It was a power play, to oust Mr. Parker. A coup. The boy was gone, the Triumvirate demanded the Centre to turn me over to their custody. Raines...Raines needed a Pretender. And two red files are better than one."

Parker met Jarod's eyes. "What are you saying?"

"You know what I'm saying." He said softly. "You know that they had my...my DNA."

"No. Please, tell me that...are you.."

"Your little brother, Miss Parker, is one of ten children. Our...yours and mine...children. Two were merely mutations...and not viable. Four were still born. Two others died after suffering severe reactions to Raines' regimen of vitamins and other nontraditional prescription medication."

"There's..." She gasped tearfully. "another child."

Jarod nodded. "A girl. Our..our daughter. I don't know where she's being kept but..."

"Oh god. He'll do the same thing to her."

"No." Jarod took her hand, felt her resist, recoil but finally felt her relax somewhat, "No, we won't allow that to happen. I promise."

"What are we going to do?"

"We're going to rescue our children, but now, you must rest."

"How? How are.."

"You'll see." Jarod grinned. "You'll see. But please try to rest now."


End file.
